Max Terr

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Max Terr (born November 16, 1890 in Odessa , Russian Empire (now Ukraine ), † August 2, 1951 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film composer with Russian roots who was nominated for an Oscar in 1943 . Terr was naturalized in the United States in 1918 by order of a federal court in New York .

Life

Terr emigrated to the United States with his family when he was a child. In the 1920s he worked as a studio musician for the Pathé label . During this time he also founded his own group, which made 27 appearances between August 1922 and August 1925. It was also the time of his collaboration with jazz and blues singer Lee Morse. During the 1930s and 1940s Terr worked for the studios Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Paramount Pictures and other film studios. A great personal success was the soundtrack in 1942, which he composed for the Chaplin film Gold Rush , the original score of which was nominated for an Oscar. Terr had already worked on the 1925 silent film version of the film. In Chaplin's work The Great Dictator , he had been assistant to the orchestra director in the Music Department two years earlier. For the romantic western bandits without a mask with Randolph Scott and Ann Dvorak he contributed the music together with colleagues in 1946. For the short films of the "Crime Does Not Pay" series he provided the film music several times, for example in 1947 he composed the background music for the short film crime drama by Joseph M. Newman The Luckiest Guy in the World . Most of his last compositions were used in short films.

Terr also led his own mixed choir, which performed with the great singer Bing Crosby , among others .

Academy Award

In 1943 Max Terr received an Oscar nomination in the category “Best Film Music (Drama / Comedy)” for the comedy Gold Rush by and with Charlie Chaplin , but could not hold his own against Max Steiner and the literary film adaptation Reise aus der Past . Gold rush was also nominated in the “Best Sound” category.

Filmography (selection)

- Sound / Music Department / Composer -

Award

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Max Terr biography at IMDb - Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ Will you remember me? - Max Terr Biography (English)
  3. ^ Max Terr 1890–1951 at worldcat.org, accessed on January 9, 2015.
  4. ↑ Bing Crosby, Max Terr's Mixed Chorus, John Scott Trotter Orchestra Canzoni di Natale
personal data
SURNAME Terr, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Odessa , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH 2nd August 1951
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States